Geopolitics

Tibet: The International Betrayal
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Issue Book Excerpt: Tibet - The Lost Frontier | Date : 11 Feb , 2012

This was the last instructions given to the Mission while in India. The following week, the delegates were told not to proceed to Beijing as the battle was shifted to the United Nations where an appeal was made.

Another unpublished document should be mentioned. It contains the instructions of K.P.S. Menon, the Indian Foreign Secretary to Shakabpa, then in Kalimpong. The cable was sent through Harishwar Dayal, the Political Officer in Gangtok, Menon told Shakabpa: “In view of the Chinese invasion of Tibet we would advise that Tibetan delegation should not proceed to Peking for negotiations. We have conveyed this advice to the Tibetan Government through our representative in Lhasa. Your Government will doubtless issue necessary instructions to you. Kindly acknowledge receipt.”

Five days later, an appeal was sent to the UN by the same Shakabpa.

By the end of October 1950, things finally began to move in Lhasa. Though the young Dalai Lama had not yet taken over as the political and religious head of Tibet, the Kashag decided to emulate South Korea and appeal to the General Assembly of the UN against the Communist Chinese act of aggression.

Their best bet for support was the Government of India, since for the preceding months, the British had made it clear that they would follow whatever New Delhi decided.

Book_Tibet_the_Lost_FrontieDuring the last days of October, Lhasa sent feelers to Delhi to see if India would be ready to sponsor the Tibetan appeal in the UN. The Tibetan Government was quite confident that Nehru’s government, which had always taken the side of oppressed people against imperialist and colonialist powers, would support Tibet.India’s reply was that it would certainly support an appeal from Tibet, but would not sponsor it.On November 1, in an interview with United Press, the Indian Prime Minister declared:

Click to buy: Tibet: The Lost Frontier

“I have received a ‘suggestion’ from Tibetan sources that Tibet would like to appeal to the United Nations against the Chinese Army’s invasion. I have replied that India does not feel free to sponsor such a resolution in the United Nations, but Tibet is free to appeal directly, if it so chooses, through the Secretary-General. India has neither the resources nor the inclination to send armed assistance7 to Tibet.”8

Their best bet for support was the Government of India, since for the preceding months, the British had made it clear that they would follow whatever New Delhi decided.

The same day Nehru cabled B.N. Rau:9 “Chinese military operations against Tibet … do not affect our general policy or
even our policy regarding admission of new China in United Nations.”10

For the Tibetans, it was a terrible let down, but the Government of India felt that it could not do more without upsetting the Chinese. Shakabpa’s orders to go to Beijing were cancelled and he was directed by the Kashag to remain in Kalimpong to help in preparing and sending the appeal to the UN.

On November 3, the Tibetan Government informed the Indian Government that since India was not ready to sponsor the appeal, in other words lobby for it, they would request some Buddhist nations to do so.

The Tibetan Appeal

The appeal by the Government of Tibet was cabled to the UN on November 7. The well-drafted appeal stated that the problem was not of ‘Tibet’s own making’ and that “the Tibetans were racially, culturally and geographically far apart from the Chinese.” It compared their situation with Korea.

Indias reply was that it would certainly support an appeal from Tibet, but would not sponsor it.

“The attention of the world is riveted on Korea where aggression is being resisted by an international force. Similar happenings in remote Tibet are passing without notice.

… As you are aware the problem of Tibet has taken alarming proportions in the recent times. The problem is not of Tibet’s own making but is largely the outcome of unthwarted Chinese ambitions to bring weaker nations on her periphery within her active domination.

As a people devoted to the tenets of Buddhism, Tibetans had long eschewed the art of warfare, practised peace and tolerance and for the defence of their country, relied on its geographical configuration and on non-involvement in the affairs of other nations. There were times when Tibet sought but seldom received the protection of the Chinese Emperor. The Chinese, however, in their natural urge for expansion, have wholly misconstrued the significance of the ties of friendship and interdependence that existed between China and Tibet as between neighbours.

China’s conduct during the expedition of 1910 completed the rupture between the two countries. In 1911-12 Tibet, under the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, declared her complete independence, even as Nepal simultaneously broke away from allegiance to China. The Chinese Revolution in 1911, which dethroned the last Manchu Emperor, snapped the last of the sentimental and religious bonds between China and Tibet. Tibet thereafter depended entirely on her isolation, and occasionally on the support of the British in India for her protection.”

Also read: Women in the Armed Forces

Then the Appeal clarifies the position of Tibet vis-à-vis China from the beginning of the century to date. The Appeal concluded with:

“˜Tibets own making and that “the Tibetans were racially, culturally and geographically far apart from the Chinese.”

“We, ministers, with the approval of His Holiness the Dalai Lama entrust the problem of Tibet in this emergency to the ultimate decision of the United Nations and hope that the conscience of the world would not allow the disruption of our state by methods reminiscent of the jungle.”11

The appeal was signed by the Kashag and the National Assembly on the 27th day of the ninth Tibetan month of the Iron-Tiger Year12 and was dispatched from the Shakabpa House in Kalimpong.

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The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the Indian Defence Review.

About the Author

Claude Arpi

Writes regularly on Tibet, China, India and Indo-French relations. He is the author of 1962 and the McMahon Line Saga, Tibet: The Lost Frontier and Dharamshala and Beijing: the negotiations that never were.

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